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In the midst of rehearsing for his upcoming “Na Mele O Hawai’i – The Golden Years of Hawaiian Music” concert, kumu hula Uluwehi Guerrero got choked up singing the 1920s classic “Honolulu, I’m Coming Back Again,” when he came to the line about waving sugar cane.
“I’ve sung the song dozens of times in the past and this time I had to stop,” Guerrero explains. “It was so hard for those words to come out because very soon we won’t be able to see that anymore. We will no longer see the iconic view of fields of waving sugar cane that graced our island for generations, and our grandchildren will only hear about it through these songs. So it’s important for us to celebrate that era.”
Known for mounting epic concert events every two years on Maui, Guerrero’s latest production is no exception. In keeping with the show’s nostalgic theme of “The Golden Years of Hawaiian Music,” the acclaimed Na Hoku Award-winning Guerrero has called on some Hawaiian legends to share their music. They include Marlene Sai, Emma Veary, and Keola and Moanalani Beamer.
“I was raised in the plantation era,” Guerrero continues. “I caught the end of that growing up in a plantation camp and working in the pineapple fields. So many of us grew up in the plantation lifestyle, and seeing pineapple and sugar cane coming to an end and plantation life coming to an end, I wanted to celebrate an era that has gone by.”
Having a special affection for the Hawaiian and hapa-haole music of this time, he was inspired to invite some legends to participate.
“It was music I was brought up on,” he says. “I listened to many of the icons from that era such as Marlene Sai and Emma Veary and Keola Beamer. I remember as a child my mom going to Aunty Emma Sharpe’s hula classes in Wailuku and dancing to Marlene Sai’s ‘A Million Moons.’ Years later she’s a guest on our stage singing the same song.”
A living legend, Sai did an album “Kainoa, considered one of Hawaii’s all-time great recordings. Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, her latest album, “Legacy,” features a collection of favorite Hawaiian and hapa-haole songs from the 1960s.
Known as the Golden Voice of Hawaii, Veary is a Hawaiian musical treasure whose signature songs include “Kamehameha Waltz” and “E Maliu Mai.” Headlining shows at the Halekulani and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in the 1970s, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, and was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
“She’s 87 years old now and she has an incredible voice,” says Guerrero. “We’re very honored that she’s joining us.”
One of Hawaii’s premier singer/songwriters, arrangers, composers and slack-key guitar masters, Keola Beamer has won many Na Hoku awards for his exceptional songs and albums. A Grammy nominee, in 2010 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award. His most recent CD, “Malama Ko Aloha” (Keep Your Love), includes collaborations with Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai and jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer.
The kumu hula of Halau Hula Kauluokala, Guerrero is blessed with a gorgeous voice. Honing his musical skills in halau performances and focusing on his artistry as a beautiful falsetto singer and talented arranger, he won top honors at several falsetto competitions throughout the state. His debut CD, “Ka Manawa Pono,” received three Na Hoku nominations, and in 2001 he was honored as Male Vocalist of the Year for his sublime recording “In My Heart.” In 2009, he released “Uluwehi Sings Na Mele Hula Aloha,” a treasury of Hawaiian music that earned him Hawaiian Album of the Year.
He’s currently working on songs for a new album and will head back to the studio after his upcoming concert.
Besides guest stars, the concert also includes an orchestra and Hawaiian backing group.
“There are 15 orchestra members and a lap steel guitarist to give that authentic sound of Hawaiian music,” he notes. “We have the lushness of string arrangements for that classical sound.”
Around 100 dancers will perform, including 40 from Japan, students from classes he teaches on Hokkaido and in Shonan, near Tokyo.
Working on the show for about a year, he says, “We are bringing out all the bells and whistles. Our first rehearsal with the strings and Keola Beamer and Aunty Emma Veary sounded absolutely beautiful. It’s going to be a wonderful evening.”
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Portland’s lounge-pop institution Pink Martini returns to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Sunday for another night of dazzling music with lead singer China Forbes fronting “the biggest little orchestra.”
There’s nothing quite like Pink Martini performing anywhere in America, or perhaps in the world. The group’s founder, Thomas Lauderdale, has often described his Oregon-based group as resembling the United Nations having a house band in 1962. Their sumptuous recordings are typically sprinkled with retro songs from many cultures, and they effortlessly infuse a dizzying smorgasbord of styles from chamber orchestra, lounge music and Cuban fiesta, to Brazilian street band and European folk-jazz.
Often earning rave reviews, the group has been praised by Jazz Times: “Pink Martini’s live show conjures a fantasy of ageless glamour. This is formal play, baroque and zany, ritzy but also childlike.” And The New York Times noted: “Ms. Forbes is an unpretentious, pitch-perfect chanteuse who can be breathy and girlish or sultry.”
Mixing glamour and sophisticated easy-listening with multilingual songs, from their earliest days Pink Martini’s classy music was a hit internationally. Their debut album, “Sympathique,” sold platinum in France and gold in Greece, and racked up sales of more than 700,000. Their follow-up album, “Hang on Little Tomato,” sold more than 500,000 copies, and was certified gold in Canada, Greece and Turkey.
Their most recent recording, “Dream a Little Dream,” featured songs from nations as diverse as China and Germany, and Rwanda and Sweden. The exotic material ranged from a 1920s German folk song and an Israeli lullaby, to French singer Francoise Hardy’s “Le Premier Bonheur du Jour,” and a unique take on ABBA’s hit “Fernando” (sung in the original Swedish) augmented by a samba band.
With the band celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2014, Lauderdale feels the group’s enduring popularity (especially in Europe) is based on its commitment to beautiful melodies and lyrics.
“The music is so accessible on so many different levels,” he says. “It has this widespread appeal to people no matter who they are. For me music is always melody driven. I love the grand, exquisite beauty of these melodic songs from the ’20s, ’30s ’40s and ’50s. They’re so inspiring and there’s so little of it these days.”
* Pink Martini will return to the Castle Theater at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $30, $55 and $68 (plus applicable fees) and are available at the box office, by calling 242-7469 or by visiting www.mauiarts.org. Top-priced orchestra tickets will have exclusive access to the dance floor.
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The best-selling Brazilian recording artist of all time, Sergio Mendes will make his Maui debut Sept. 15 in the Castle Theater.
Looking forward to playing in Hawaii, Mendes is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his legendary group Brasil ’66. The Sept. 15 Maui Beat column will feature an interview with the Brazilian icon.
Asked to describe the feeling evoked by his music, he simply says “joy.”
* The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at the MACC. Tickets are $35, $55 and $75, with a limited number of $125 premium seats available (plus applicable fees). For more information, visit www.mauiarts.org.
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Before the main event on Sept. 10 at the Royal Lahaina Resort in Kaanapali, the 2016 Maui Jazz & Blues Festival will also feature a number of free events at various island locations.
Today from 4 to 6 p.m. at BMW of Maui in Kahului, smooth jazz saxophonist Rock Hendricks will perform with guitarist Benny Uyetake and saxophonist Joie Taylor. The event includes free pupus and beverages.
On Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., guitarist Damon Parrillo will play with saxophonist Taylor and friends at Whole Foods Market in Kahului. Also on Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., saxophonist John Zangrando and keyboardist Gene Argel will play at Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods in Kihei.
The King Kekaulike High School jazz band will perform at Whole Foods on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. And Zangrando and Argel will play the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa’s Japengo restaurant in Kaanapali on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
* For a full schedule, visit www.mauijazzandbluesfestival.com.